The art of storytelling is reaching its end because the epic side of truth, wisdom, is dying out.

Like ultraviolet rays memory shows to each man in the book of life a script that invisibly and prophetically glosses the text.

The more circumspectly you delay writing down an idea, the more maturely developed it will be on surrendering itself.

Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method.

To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright.

Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when it is built, and a textile one when it is woven.

The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope.

Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his conviction.

There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.

The concept of progress must be grounded in the idea of catastrophe. That things are 'status quo' is the catastrophe

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

Kingsley nodded. 'Of course. Sophia always did say wisdom had to be earned.

Abnormal – nonsense. Suggests a norm, which is a tag placed on those who don’t conform to an elite’s view of itself.

When I was 11, I made truffle risotto for my family for Christmas dinner.

Investing in women's lives is an investment in sustainable development, in human rights, in future generations - and consequently in our own long-term national interests.

Opportunity doesn't knock on my door, I go and break its door down.

Don't bemoan your misspent life quite yet. Forgive me for flaunting my experience, but you have no conception of what a misspent life constitutes.

I try to work with God as a partner.

Words can be applied as one might put on a scent, such as perfume. Some scents are so wonderful and others are sickening... titles can be the same.

In terms of merit, sports has mathematical statistics. That's how you know who the best player is.

Polls show that Arabs admire a lot of the Western values, cultural aspects in the West. It is more about policies than about way of life.